As a former Xbox 360 owner I don’t understand Xbox today – Reader’s Feature GameCentral Published June 15, 2025 1:00am Xbox 360 is coming up to its 20th anniversary (Microsoft) A reader looks back on the Xbox 360 era and is frustrated at how things have evolved since then, with ROG Xbox Ally and the move towards multiformat releases. I though the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday was pretty good. Like Sony’s State of Play, it was mostly third party games but there was some interesting stuff there and I think overall the vibe was better than from Sony. I liked the look of High On Life 2, There Are No Ghosts At The Grand, and Cronos: The New Dawn the best but there was a lot of potentially cool games – I’d include Keeper, because it looked interestingly weird, but I don’t feel Double Fine are ever very good at gameplay. The biggest news out of the event was the new portable with the terrible name: Asus ROG Xbox Ally. I bet you can just imagine some parent asking that for that at shop at Christmas, to buy their kid? Not that that would ever happen because the thing’s going to be stupidly expensive. It seemed like a distraction, a small experiment at best, and I didn’t really pay much attention to it, especially as I already have a Steam Deck. But then today I read that Microsoft has cancelled its plans for their next gen portable and that actually this ridiculously named non-Xbox device may end up being the future of gaming for Microsoft. I’ve always preferred Xbox as my console as choice, probably because I was always a PC gamer before that. Although now I look back at things I have to admit that I only got the Xbox One out of brand loyalty and I wouldn’t have if I’d been thinking about it more clearly. By that point I was in too deep and so I bought the Xbox Series X/S out of muscle memory more than anything, wasn’t I proven to be a chump? What frustrates me most about Xbox at the moment is how indecisive it seems. I almost didn’t watch the Xbox Games Showcase because I knew I’d have to see Phil Spencer, or one of his goons, grinning into the camera, as if nothing is wrong. And, of course, that’s exactly what he did, ‘hinting’ about the return of Halo, as if everyone was going to be pumping the air to hear about that. Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. News flash, Phil: no one cares. You’ve run that series into the ground, like all the other Xbox exclusives, to the point where they just feel old fashioned and tired. Old school fans don’t care and newer ones definitely don’t. It may sell okay at first on PlayStation 5, but only out of curiosity and as a kind of celebration that Sony has finally defeated Microsoft. To all extents and purposes, Xbox is now third party. The only thing that makes them not is that they still make their own console hardware but how long is that going to last? The ROG Ally is made by Asus and if Microsoft don’t make a handheld are they really going to put out a home console instead? That’s going to cost a lot of money in R&D and marketing and everything else, and I don’t know who could argue that it’s got a chance of selling more than the Xbox Series X/S. Phil Spencer has been talking about making a handheld for years and yet suddenly it’s not going to happen? Is there anything that is set in stone? I even heard people talking about them going back to having exclusives with the next generation, if it seemed like things were working out. I loved my Xbox 360, it’s still my favourite console of all time – the perfect balance between modern and retro games – but its golden era is a long time ago now, well over a decade. Xbox at the time was the new kid on the block, full of new ideas and daring to what Sony wouldn’t or couldn’t. When was the last time Xbox did anything like that? Game Pass probably, and that hasn’t worked out at all well. More Trending Nothing has, ever since that disastrous Xbox One reveal, and I just don’t understand how a company with basically infinite resources, and which already owns half the games industry, can be such a hopeless mess. I’m just sticking with PC from now and in the future, I’m going to pretend the Xbox 360 was my one and only console. By reader Cramersauce Xbox One – not a good follow-up to the Xbox 360 (Microsoft) The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro. You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Early in Dragon Ball, Master Roshi destroys the moon, setting the stage for many more absolutely wild feats to come in the various Dragon Ball anime and manga series. Planets get blown up left and right, perhaps none more consequential than Frieza destroying Namek — which, of course, took longer to blow than the five minutes he threatened. It’s a dramatic climax to perhaps the best saga in the entire franchise, and when it was done, both viewers and in-universe characters were left thinking the series’ biggest threat to date was done for. Frieza, already sliced in half by his own Destructo Disc-like attack, was blasted — and seemingly killed — by Goku (“You fool!”) and was unable to escape Namek before it went kablooey. And yet, somehow, Frieza survived in a remarkable display of resiliency. In reality, he didn’t die because he needed to be fodder for the series’ next new and mysterious character: Trunks. Because the next time we see Frieza, he gets owned by the teenager’s sword. This is a series where its protagonist flung himself straight through a Demon King as a kid, Buu’s screaming ripped a hole through dimensions, and multiple planets were destroyed throughout. So how in the world can such an intimidating foe get done in by a sword? Easy: rule of cool. When Trunks arrives on the scene, he automatically becomes one of Dragon Ball’s coolest characters. The purple hair, Capsule Corp. jacket, mystery around his identity, and, of course, his sword all make him one cool dude. He’s also the first Super Saiyan we meet after Goku achieved the form (and before the series had a Super Saiyan bargain sale). And to display just how powerful Trunks was, Frieza had to go out like a chump. Frieza’s body survived a lot of damage on Namek, even before he was sliced in half (and once again, Frieza’s final fight took much longer than five minutes). This dude ate a Spirit Bomb to the face and came out of it with, what, a swollen eye? And then a freakin’ sword does him in? Rule of cool. Trunks slicing Frieza in half produces quite the sick-ass shot in the anime. We’re treated to a POV look at Trunks sliding in half before the camera cuts to showing Frieza cleanly coming apart. The two halves then float in the air for a moment, giving us a gory peek at Frieza’s insides, before Trunks decides he isn’t done and puts his sword to further use. He chops Frieza up into chunky fleshy and mechanical bits and then decides to finish him off with a ki blast to the chunks, leaving nothing left of the once-frightening antagonist. We get our first glimpse of who Trunks is here. His time battling the Androids made him all business; he wouldn’t be letting Frieza power up just to test himself. Instead, Trunks cuts down the threat before the threat can harm anyone. This is a sharp contrast to his father, who, of course, later on commits one of the Cell Saga’s worst sins in letting Cell become Perfect. This isn’t the last time we see Trunks use his sword either. He brandishes it in Dragon Ball Super’s Future Trunks Saga against Goku Black, which is perhaps even more ridiculous, as Goku Black has the strength and resiliency of, well, Goku. Who has the God ki by that point. My word, what a wonderful series. Trunks’ sword hits peak cool in that arc as he morphs it into something of a Spirit Bomb to use against Zamasu. Infused with the hope and ki of what’s left of humanity, I buy that his sword can not only hold up in a fight and not shatter, but slice cleanly through Zamasu in what’s kinda become Trunks’ signature move — slicing baddies to bits. When a pervy old man can blow up a moon with his energy, maybe weapons like swords don’t make a lot of sense in the Dragon Ball universe. But because Trunks using his sword to slice bad guys in half is that cool, who’re we to say no?

Menu Home News Hardware Gaming Mobile Finance Deals Reviews How To Wccftech Deals AMD’s 16-Core, 32-Thread Ryzen 9 9950X3D Price Is Slowly Stabilizing, With The Latest Amazon Stock Going For $749.99, A $50 Increase Over Its MSRP, So Do Not Miss Out [Update] Omar Sohail • May 21, 2025 at 03:15pm EDT A couple of months after the Ryzen 7 9800X3D’s release, AMD followed up with the launch of the Ryzen 9 9900X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D launch, and as you can imagine, it did not take long for the higher core variants of the desktop manufacturer’s ‘X3D’ range of processors to quickly sell out on Amazon. There have been instances where both of these SKUs have been restocked, but at overly inflated prices. Fortunately, some sanity has prevailed, and the 16-core and 32-thread Ryzen 9 9950X3D has been re-listed on the online retailer for $749.99. Keep in mind that AMD launched the aforementioned CPU at $699, so even if it is available for $749.99, consider yourself lucky because there have been occasions where this part was being sold for over $900. Regardless, if you want to boost your gaming performance and breeze through those taxing productivity-centric applications and have a budget that can accommodate this purchase, then we will always encourage buyers to get hold of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D. This CPU is compatible with the same set of motherboards that can slot in AMD’s non-X3D lineup of processors, so if you have a beefy GPU but still feel that your framerate could be on the higher side, you can pick up the Ryzen 9 9950X3D and say goodbye to those sub-60FPS sessions. This is all possible thanks to the enormous amounts of L3 cache that AMD incorporates in its chip, which is 128GB, allowing for unrivaled gaming performance. At the time of writing, there were ‘50+ carts’ remaining in stock on Amazon, and while that gives you plenty of time, those units can drastically dip in an instant. If you have a certain requirement for this CPU and have the budget to spare, then $749.99 will look like chump change, especially if you plan to keep this processor for several years. Update: The Ryzen 9 9950X3D receives a price reduction by an additional $50, which means that you can get each unit for $699, which is the actual MSRP of the desktop CPU. Now, there is even more good news, because the Ryzen 9 9900X3D has also been restocked on Amazon, and it is available for $599, but limited stock remains for now. Get the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D from Amazon - $699 Get the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X3D from Amazon - $599 Explore more AMD Ryzen 9000 desktop processors here See the latest technology deals that Amazon has discounted today See what else Amazon has discounted today Deal of the Day Subscribe to get an everyday digest of the latest technology news in your inbox Follow us on Topics Sections Company Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Red Dead Redemption 2 – Rockstar’s best game? (Rockstar Games) The Tuesday letters page asks whether video game execs need to be gamers or not, as one reader predicts Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe will be a while yet. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk Rockstar #1 Interesting to see people having the confidence to speak out against GTA, which I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of as the game gets closer. I won’t pretend I don’t enjoy the games, and still play GTA Online occasionally, but what I will say is that GTA 5 is not my favourite Rockstar game at all and I do feel it’s a shame they don’t make a wider range of games like they used to.Bully was great and so was The Warriors, but I especially liked the first Manhunt and I’m very upset that never became a regular franchise. I don’t think Midnight Club or L.A. Noire were as good but at least they were something different, as was Max Payne 3 (although I prefer Remedy’s two games). I would say that Red Dead Redemption 2 is easily their best game. It has all the scope and size of GTA but none of the flaws that people have been pointing out. It has a good, clear plot. The characters are all interesting and many of them are likeable. They act like people too, not just try hard characters. The gameplay still isn’t great but it’s no worse than GTA 5 and I definitely prefer riding a horse to driving a car, at least one designed by Rockstar. So while I am looking forward to GTA 6 there are quite a few other Rockstar games I’d rather see get a sequel first.Focus One for two Is it me or has Shuhei Yoshida been acting like a bit of chump in his recent round of interviews? He was very down on Switch 2 for no reason that I could really see, other than he’s ex-Sony, and now he, who is presumably very rich, is trying to tell us all that £80 for a video is a bargain and we shouldn’t complain?I’m sure it is good value for money but at the end of the day that’s money that a lot of us don’t have lying around spare. Only a few years ago I would’ve been able to get two triple-A games for £80, at least a couple of months after launch, and soon I’m only going to be able to get one. I don’t see how that’s good for gaming or publishers or anyone else. It’s definitely not good for my wallet.Brian Summer secrets So, the Switch 2 is out on June 5 and the Summer Game Fest is June 6… does that mean there’s going to be some kind of big annoucement? I know people are 50/50 on whether there’s a secret Christmas game still to be revealed but if there was I would’ve though this would be a good time to do it.I can’t see anyone getting all that excited when Nintendo try to make the reveal of the release dates for checks notes Hyrule Warriors 3 and Kirby Air Ride 2 seem like some epic reveal. I’m with everyone else that thinks they are very strange things to be out in the first year, especially when that could mean there’s really only big first party game out all year. I’m not going to try and predict anything, because it’s Nintendo and who knows, but does GC think the two dates are coincidence or are they going to end up being connected?Paulie GC: Our guess is that it’s just a coincidence. Nintendo doesn’t tend to use third party events to announce anything significant. They may try and squeeze something in at the last minute, just because the timing is so odd, but we wouldn’t count on it. Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk Strange ideas Like a lot of readers, I find Hideo Kojima a fascinating but flawed character. He’s got so much obvious talent, but he’s squandered so much of it on one franchise, that faded from public view surprisingly quickly. Dead Stranding was interesting but I’m not sure how a sequel is going to work if the core gameplay is still… walking very slowly and delivering parcels to holograms.I’m painting the game in its worst possible light there but even so, Death Stranding was just flawed as anything else Kojima has done and I would’ve liked to see him give it another roll of the dice with a different idea. Instead, he’s working on a sequel, and what seem to be spiritual sequels to Silent Hills and Metal Gear. By which time he’ll be well into his 60s… If all the ideas on the USB stick are as weird as the guy forgetting his abilities over time, I’d rather he do them now. It just feels he’s permanently got one foot in the past and it’s a real shame.Kurgen Come back later If Nintendo does do a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Deluxe edition for the Switch 2 do we have any idea who could be added to it? I would’ve said someone from a new Switch 2 IP but there really hasn’t been one yet, which is a real shame. Maybe they could try and do one of the wheelchair basketball people, but I can’t see many people queuing up for that.I also thought maybe a couple more Microsoft games, back when I expected them and Nintendo to be all chummy. Now it seems that was all just talk and Xbox doesn’t have any plans at all, or at least none so urgent they’ve felt the need to talk about them so far. So if a Deluxe edition does happen, I don’t think it’s going to happen for a while, for the simple reason that there isn’t anyone new to add, because they’re all already been done.Roel Dungeons master I was going to compose a missive contemplating the likelihood of Dungeons 4 being ported to the Switch 2, only to find out that it’s actually already out on Switch?! That would be an amazing feat if it worked but apparently it’s a bug ridden, almost unplayable mess from the only review I can find (I literally had no idea and can’t be the only one unaware of the port).So now, instead I’m wondering if they’ll release a Switch 2 Edition or complete edition with all the DLC, or even just put some fixes through so the game runs better on the new hardware. I hope they do the same for Tropico 6 (both are by Kalypso, so if ones done the other will probably be too). As an aside, put me on the boat for people not really interested in GTA 6. Five or six years ago I’d been down for it but current, me who replayed GTA 5 before getting shot of my PlayStation 4, I found it pretty awful actually. The characters, the controls, the story, were all just urgh. I appreciate the characters aren’t supposed to be likeable (except Franklin, maybe) but my god what were they thinking of with Trevor? Every time I had to play as him it felt like my soul was dying a little more, until I just gave up playing. I don’t expect much from the single-player campaign of GTA 6, if there even is one…Solabound Glory days I don’t think I’m the first person to say it on here but if Bungie lasts to the end of the year I will be shocked. I’ll also be relatively surprised if Marathon isn’t cancelled within the next few months. It’s a game no one wants, in a genre no one will admit to liking, by a developer that seems to be in a downward spiral.It’s sad to think how this sort of thing can happen. Halo 3 was 18 years ago now, and it’s at least five years since Destiny 2 was relevant. It’s unfortunate but Bungie were never the same after leaving Microsoft and I think the initial success of Destiny 1 just hid that for a while and now it’s obvious.Tony T. Management sim I’m in two minds as to whether the head of a big games company needs to be a gamer or not. It feels like it should be a thing but at the end of the day what’s most important is that they’re a good business person, which the Take-Two guy seems to be. At least going by how long he’s been in the job.Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata was a great leader and actually used to make games, but his replacement is just a businessman with no developer background at all, and yet he seems to be doing a decent job. Then there’s that other obvious example: Phil Spencer. He can’t stop talking about what a keen gamer he is, and I think he genuinely is a fan, but I also think it’s increasingly hard to pretend he’s doing a good job at Xbox. Ultimately, I don’t think it matters whether you’re a gamer or not, whether you’ve ever been a developer or anything. The only thing that matters is being good at your job, which has nothing to do with making games but backing the right people that do, making sure they have the resources, and not interfering with them. I believe that’s pretty much what the Take-Two guy himself said. Where you get a bit of a grey area is something like EA or Ubisoft, where you definitely feel like their leaders could stand to actually play some games once in a while, instead of just making decisions by spreadsheets. Remember that the team that made Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 used to work on Ubisoft, so they clearly weren’t being creatively fulfilled there and that’s a management problem.Lemmy Inbox also-rans I was thinking of getting Doom: The Dark Ages after the positive reviews but I was shocked to discover it was £70. This isn’t Call Of Duty, this is a single-player only game that apparently is quite easy. I’ll come back on Black Friday.PancusIf Red Dead Redemption 2 is out on Switch 2 this year I think that could be a really good selling point, because the obvious comparison, in terms of graphics, is Zelda and Rockstar’s game is lightyears ahead of that.Bosley More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk The small printNew Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter. GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content. 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Find out how Unreal Engine 5 enabled a small indie team to design and deliver a uniquely themed puzzle experience that satirizes the use of AI to create machine-generated game content.